Am I Penelope?

[sonnets_and_stitches]

I don't know if this is something I need "help" with or not. Perhaps I just need a good swift in the pants to get me going.

 

I keep making things only to frog them. I don't even frog them because I don't like them. I just frog them because the point of the crocheting was the activity, not the end result.

 

Example: I bought an 88 cent spool of size 3 thread (last one of the sale). I started the bat filet curtain in the SnB book, but about halfway through I realized I didn't have enough thread. So I frogged it. Then I started making the gorgeous "Baby, It's Cowled Outside" cowl on the Crochet Me website. No where near enough thread, so I frogged it. Eventually, I wanted a little cotton bow on some fingerless gloves, so at least some of the thread became SOMETHING.

 

I'll sit down with a skein and a book and will try out new stitches for rows and rows, and then frog it. I'll start a project just to see how it will look, and then I say "Oh, I get it now," and then frog it. I made a miniature One Skein Scarf (about ten inches long) just so I could understand the pattern. It was adorable. I tried out my first granny squares a few weeks ago and really liked it. Frog, frog, frog.

 

Is this even a problem? Is this relatively common, or is it too weird for words? Am I afraid of committment? Am I too cheap to actually use my yarn? Am I Penelope, staving off throne-hungry suitors?

 

~ Joy

[darski]

I am also a frogger. I like to try out stitches or parts of patterns, or make things w/ no pattern, and if I don't like the finished piece, I rip it out. I don't see it as a problem. I think I have learned something by the process, and still have the thread/yarn to use again. I made a doily to learn the knot stitch, didn't need a doily, and it did not turn out well anyway, so just ripped it out and rewound the thread. Have done that w/ other objects too. My storage space is limited so I would rather keep a rewound ball of thread than a finished object I don't like and can't use. Thread has potential, a finished item I don't like has none, in my eyes.

 

I did get inspired by seeing pictures of swatch scrapbooks made in Victorian times where individual motifs or little sections of crochet were sewn into books. When I find a stitch pattern I like, I make a swatch up in thread and if I like the end result I keep it. That way I can remember what it looks like--my result may not look like the picture in the book;) . So far my swatches are paperclipped to index cards and stuck in a folder, they are not in a nice book. But that makes me feel more purposeful when I am crocheting just to be crocheting--I am making swatches for my record, not just fooling around.

 

Perhaps you could pick up one of those photo albums where you just slide the photo into a pocket. Your swatches would then be in a nice tidy album and it might be like reading through a reference book when you want a stitch for something.

 

i used a large 3 ring binder and top loading page protectors to store my knitting samples which is why I thought of this plan.

[sherryzzz]

I am really reluctant to frog a completed item, even if it doesn't fit me. I think about selling these items and keep saying I going to set up a etsy store........yet to do either, though.

[rainbowridergrma]

Actually, this thread is pretty psychological. Made me think about when and why I frog. I really hate to do it, but I hate to waste yarn more. If I make something for me that I like better, I will take the previous one apart. Can't see keeping something I won't use. My darling husband who knits, has no problem frogging over and over until he get an item the way he wants. But then he is through with it. If it does not sell, he cannot take it apart. I have no problem taking his older items apart. Could it be that the items we put so much of ourelves into are the ones that are hard to frog? Food for thought.

 

Glenda

[countingsts]

ok, here's what you do. since you seem to be , from what I've read, you are making swatches. so keep the swatches and when you have alot of them, piece them together and see what happens. you just may have a really pretty albeit original funky blanket or doily. and remember it is your own and add on to it. just a thought. this cuts down on the stash building.

[brennae74]

Frogging is so painfull after all the hours put into the project, but sometimes I start a project with a certain type of yarn then I can't stand the way it looks, so I frog it and start with a different yarn. I have bad habits.

[shadow]

Kathy-

What about writing on the back of the index card all the info and it still looks like the old fashioned book?

[magiccrochetfan]

Darski, that is a good idea about using a photo album or a binder. I liked the old fashioned look of the old albums with the samples sewn on brown paper, so I was waiting for inspiration to strike as to how i could (cheaply) replicate that look. but I may never do it, because I do want to record where i got the stitch idea and do a little graph of each one--that would mess up the look. I do have some empty file boxes I could put the index cards in also, no expense involved in that :-)

[sherryzzz]

You've been taking in all this information about technique and pattern for some reason and now that you've learned a lot about crochet, maybe it's time you designed something? The part I hate about designing, is the frogging and re-crocheting, and then making the project again and again to test it - sounds like you like that process!

[sonnets_and_stitches]

I think I actually like frogging, too. The little tug each stitch gives the yarn as it comes undone . . .

 

Of course, I'm also the wacko who would build up an entire civilization in the game Age of Empires - defeat all the other nations, build a Wonder, have everything going absolutely peachy-keen, and then I would gather all my villagers around the Wonder and delete them, one by one. Viola! Instant and mysterious disappearance of the civilization! What WILL the archeologists think!

 

~ Joy

[funkyreporter]

i am right there with you.

 

i will pick up some pretty yarn and 'try' a pattern, sometimes a portion of it, sometimes the entire item, and when it's done if it's not something i'll use/wear (i love to make wearables) then i'll frog it with my ball winder! it's fun, and then i get to use the pretty yarn again! it's a win-win situation for me!

[julie5813]

I like the idea that Darski had of putting swatches in a photo album. But to answer your question, I don't think your frogging is a problem. If, for you, the point of crocheting is the process, then it sounds like you are getting a lot of "process" done while conserving your resources at the same time!

[RoseRed]

this is why you build a stash. I have to agree with crochet hen - frogging is painful.

[thebratfink]

Funny you should mention...

 

I have a sister who makes lovely wearables in crochet.

 

Wearables have NEVER interested me. NOT EVER. [but she keeps trying to make me 'make something to wear for SOMEONE.]

 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE making doilies. That's all I want to make. EVER.

 

I have a friend who knits. She only makes scarves and hats.

 

You know, if YOU are happy, then you GO, girlfriend.

 

Because that is what it is all about.

 

Just keep on being happy.

 

 

 

 

[froggy]

Ms Froggy, How appropriate that you should be the one to describe this! I find frogging incredibly painful and it makes me pretty cranky!

 

And by the way I am very good at rip-it rip-it ,Frogging! :P

[faedragon]

It's only a problem if it bothers you. So ask yourself if you are bothered by doing this. The answer to that question will tell you whether or not it is a problem

[magiccrochetfan]

I am also a frogger. I like to try out stitches or parts of patterns, or make things w/ no pattern, and if I don't like the finished piece, I rip it out. I don't see it as a problem. I think I have learned something by the process, and still have the thread/yarn to use again. I made a doily to learn the knot stitch, didn't need a doily, and it did not turn out well anyway, so just ripped it out and rewound the thread. Have done that w/ other objects too. My storage space is limited so I would rather keep a rewound ball of thread than a finished object I don't like and can't use. Thread has potential, a finished item I don't like has none, in my eyes.

 

I did get inspired by seeing pictures of swatch scrapbooks made in Victorian times where individual motifs or little sections of crochet were sewn into books. When I find a stitch pattern I like, I make a swatch up in thread and if I like the end result I keep it. That way I can remember what it looks like--my result may not look like the picture in the book;) . So far my swatches are paperclipped to index cards and stuck in a folder, they are not in a nice book. But that makes me feel more purposeful when I am crocheting just to be crocheting--I am making swatches for my record, not just fooling around.

[crochet_hen]

Ms Froggy, How appropriate that you should be the one to describe this! I find frogging incredibly painful and it makes me pretty cranky!

To 'frog' means to to take out your stitches.....rip-it, rip-it you know kind of like the sound a 'frog' makes ribbit, ribbit

[acraftylady]

I was doing that for a bit as I can only make the family so many blankets before they get tired. Then I found out my church has a group that does prayer shawls, chemo caps, trake scarfs and stuff so now I try things and give the end result away and get a good feeling plus I get to chat with some very nice ladies once a week and not crochet alone.

 

Also I am now trying baby things and putting them away so when my niece has her first child I won't be rushed making things. Mary

[froggy]

cuse please...what is "frog"? I am guessing...to undo??

If so I have same problem...am trying to stop, too, and just keep going...hard.

 

To 'frog' means to to take out your stitches.....rip-it, rip-it you know kind of like the sound a 'frog' makes ribbit, ribbit

[davesbaubie]

cuse please...what is "frog"? I am guessing...to undo??

If so I have same problem...am trying to stop, too, and just keep going...hard.

[shadow]

Oh my gosh I have been doing the same thing!!! Frog,Frog, frog!!! Doilies, a top, granny squares, scarfs, etc, etc, etc. It's like I lose interest! I also have been trading jewelry I make for yarn and have loads of odds and ends of yarn but don't have any use for it!! There isn't enough there to make anything and no place to keep it but I have to get more! For what...I keep frogging everything!

[Reneva]

Hee hee - that is a problem, lol.

I think I may have the opposite problem - I will not frog anything even projects I am not happy with. I can't stand to think of the wasted time and effort. Of course this leads to a rubbermaid tote full of projects I haven't finished because I got discouraged or found something better to work on!